Walnut ink is a warm brown colour, inexpensive and really pleasant to use. It is supplied in a little sachet containing 1 tsp of cystals so that you can mix it immediately and the child can start trying their hand at Uncials as soon as they get the book ABC Uncials with its kit, using the balsa pen which is also in the kit. You sprinkle the sachet onto 4 Tbs of warm water - this is just enough for a tiny jam jar of water - and leave it for a couple of hours to dissolve. When diluted. it is … [Read more...]
Give them real ink! – Teaching Children Calligraphy
There are a few reasons for giving children real ink. Below is a drawing of a house that Hattie (6) did using black waterproof ink and a bamboo pen that I made. I'm showing this picture because I don't have any pctures of child-calligraphy available and because I'd like to make a few points about ink and children. You can't use waterproof or acrylic ink with a dip nib as it will clog the nib. Waterproof ink contains shellac which is varnish, and acrylic ink contains acrylic which will dry on … [Read more...]
ABC Uncials: Teaching Children Calligraphy – what style and what age?
My background as children's teacher and my interest in children's handwriting I used to run holiday courses in winter in my Cape Town studio. We had a large studio surrounded by trees and it rained incessantly. I have also thought about children's handwriting and calligraphy since I was about 14. My two left-handed brothers had writing that was hardly legible and when they were about 12, my mother bought Better Handwriting for them and they had to work from it daily. I took it to boarding … [Read more...]
Rule of the last Inch – ABC Uncials
I spoke about moving the goalposts in writing my little book ABC Uncials for 10 year olds and upwards. Well I am now enetering the Realm of the Last inch... Now listen to the rule of the last inch. The realm of the last inch. The job is almost finished, the goal almost attained, everything possible seems to have been achieved, every difficulty overcome — and yet the quality is just not there. The work needs more finish, perhaps further research. In that moment of weariness and … [Read more...]
Balsa pens
This is a fantastic home-made pen that can do lettering from a 5mm stroke width to 5cm stroke width. Buy some balsa that is 5mm in thickness. It is usually in a plank approx. 45cm long and 7.5cm wide with a thickness of about 5mm. In my photos the balsa has already been cut narrower, but ideally, do the mat (diagonal) cut while it is still 75mm wide. You can probably use a craft knife but a matt cutter does a lovely clean cut. Do two cuts 12cm apart, so that you have wide 'pen' 12cm long … [Read more...]